In 1994, The United States and North Korea developed a framework for an overall resolution to the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula. In accordance with the agreement, both countries agreed to take the following actions to attempt to resolve the nuclear situation. Both sides would cooperate to replace the North Korean graphite-moderated reactors and related facilities with light-water reactor po

Since this framework was developed, North Korea has changed philosophies, attempting to develop nuclear weapons. In December 2002, North Korea repudiated its 1994 agreement that shut down its nuclear reactors. Additionally, North Korea expelled UN monitors, further raising fears it would produce nuclear weapons and potentially catalyze mass chaos throughout Southeast Asia. North Korea’s largest nuclear reactors, Yongbyon and Taechon, have recently been reactivated. Currently, Yongbyon is the only reactor capable of producing plutonium, since Taechon’s construction was halted by the 1994 Agreed Framework. Pyongyang, North Korea’s leading nuclear laboratory, is active and being used to extract small quantities of weapons grade plutonium. This activation of nuclear facilities is in direct material breech of the Agreed Framework with the United States. Since pulling out of the framework, the United States has stopped shipments of food and oil to North Korea. North Korea has admitted to a separate enriched plutonium program, which could develop several nuclear bombs within the next five years. It is unsure when North Korea will develop a nuclear bomb. Many officials believe that fuel rods, left over from before the 1994 Agreed Framework, exist and could be refined to produce weapons grade plutonium within the next several months. While the national communit

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